ChipetaWife of Ute ChiefOuray

THE
UTES -- LOS INDIOS DEL VALLE

The San Luis Valley
was inhabited at different times by numerous Indian tribes.
Early paleolithic hunters killed now extinct ice animals in the
valley. Indians from the upper Rio Grande Pueblos also hunted
in the valley at times. Before the Utes finally established
their dominance in the valley, it was frequently raided by Plains
tribes such as the Comanche, Cheyenne, Arapahoe, and Kiowa.
Jicarilla Apaches lived in peaceful harmony with the Utes and
frequently camped in the southern end of the valley. The first
contact with the Utes was in the period 1630-1640. The Utes
were called "QUERECHOS" by the early Spaniards in the
area.

The Capote band of Utes occupied the southern end of
the valley at the time of the first contact. Another band, the
Mohuache, also lived in southern Colorado and the Weeminuche band also
ranged in the western end of the valley, generally west of the San
Juan Mountains.

Chipeta (shown above) was wife of the
paramount Ute chief Ouray. She was almost hanged by a lynchmob
in Alamosa, Colorado, on January 7, 1880, when she and ten Ute
chiefs arrived there to board a train for Washington to resolve
reservation resettlement matters. Early Colorado settlers were
irate at the Utes for the killing of eleven cavalrymen and the
wounding of forty three others in the massacre at Meeker, Colorado.